The present invention relates in general to packaging apparata, and in particular to a container apparatus for friable or granular material which facilitates unfilled, flat shipment plus later articulation, deployment and filling for secure containment of the material.
Prior art container apparata for friable rubber include a formed multi-compartment carton which requires a large number of individual pieces and considerable user assembly. First a pair of side by side sleeves are inserted into an outer carton for vertical stacking strength. A pair of bottoms, one into each of the sleeves, is then inserted and a pair of enclosures for the friable rubber are then inserted atop each of the bottoms for a total first layer of four compartments. The operation is then repeated three more times with the placement of two bottoms and two enclosures upon each of the bottoms to ultimately form a total of 16 compartments in four layers of four compartments each and a lid is then placed upon the carton.
Although the many individual components for the abovedescribed prior art apparatus may be shipped knocked-down, considerable user labor and time is required to assemble them to four layers of components and to fill the container simultaneous with formation. Moreover, the number of parts in the prior art container apparatus, in addition to increasing the user labor, increases the amount of material necessary and hence the material cost of the container.
It is thus an object of the present invention to provide a container apparatus for friable or granular material which facilitates knocked-down shipment of the apparatus as a single, preassembled unit which may be readily deployed by the user for filling.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a container apparatus for friable or granular material which permits user assembly without the need for the packer to apply any glue, tape, staples or other separate fastening devices.
It is also an object of the present invention to provide a container apparatus for friable or granular material which uses less container material than the prior art container apparatus presently in use.
An additional object of the present invention is the provision of a container apparatus having multi-ply portions for increasing the ability of the apparatus to independently support successfully stacked container apparata by increasing its integral stacking strength.
These and other objects of the invention will become apparent in light of the present specification, drawings and claims.